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Mahindra XEV 9e Sets China-Bangladesh Border Record

I reached Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, where a coordinator briefed me on the terrain and the morning flag-off ceremony the BRO officials would conduct. I was also introduced to an adjudicator after I was joined by my colleague Lalit.

From India's China Border to the Bangladesh Border

My colleague and I would drive the Mahindra XEV 9e from Chumi Gyatse, Arunachal Pradesh, to Dawki, Meghalaya, in the shortest possible time. Almost 700km, with two route options, each with just 1 fast DC charger available. What lay hidden behind these distance numbers were huge elevation changes and temperature variations.

Climbing the Himalayas in the Mahindra XEV 9e

At 9am sharp, BRO officials flagged us off, and we started driving with an odo reading of 4,594km and an SOC of 65 per cent. I decided to climb the first 4,000ft, and then, after ascending to 10,000 or 11,000ft, I would decide how much to push. During the climb, I could literally feel the range dropping and I lost 15 per cent SOC right there. It was mostly descent for the next 60km, and that’s where it would regenerate a lot of battery charge.

Regenerative Braking Turns the Climb Around

Arunachal has some good roads. By the time we reached Jang, the car was still at 54 per cent SOC – almost 100km, and we were just 11 per cent down. But it was a demanding climb ahead, from 8,000ft, we were now heading to 13,000ft to cross the Sela tunnel. By the time we crossed Sela, we were at just 33 per cent. So technically, a drop of 21 per cent in the last 30 km. But I wasn’t worried. I knew what lay ahead was just one more climb, and I could do another 200km easily. We reached the next lowest point, Dirang, and stopped there to decide where to head. We had a shoot team and some more staff along, and I wanted everyone to take a night halt. Guwahati was roughly 7 hours away, and Tezpur was 5 hours away. With the 45 per cent, we had (yes, we gained 12 per cent), we could make it to either of these, but Lalit and I chose Tezpur. Around 1:30am, with 20 per cent SOC left, we reached Tezpur, where a DC fast charger was waiting. We stayed at a nearby hotel and left the car to charge.

One Recharge, One Detour, One Record

When we left Tezpur, we were informed that the Tezpur-Dawki route we were supposed to take was closed for road construction and that we might have to wait two hours. Such was our confidence in the electric car, given its performance the previous day, that we Googled alternate routes and started cruising towards Guwahati to take a possible detour, which was 70km longer. At Shillong, we took a left and bypassed it. Speed was the main goal and right before sunset, we made it to the Bangladesh border near Dawki comfortably with 23 per cent charge left.

En route temps varied from 0 to 34 degrees Celsius, with five elevation changes. And we covered 758km with just a single recharge. A new record that I am sure we can break again.